Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Good Gracious!

Where have I been!? And why do I make promises? Anyway, whatever I rambled about showing Good Folks last week, lets pretend that I said this week. All set then.

Good Folks was inspired by various sets of things, but all of the notions in my mind had kindness involved. Odd? Perhaps. But can't think of how else to say it. Old European linens. Family. Hand-loomed wool bedspreads. Meals. Fields. Embroidery. Needlepoint kits that I spent summers in Greece as a child occupied with. The icons of the village churches. Layer upon layer of mismatched bed linens piled on top of my floor palette in the upper room of my Yiayia's house to keep me warm even though it was the middle of the summer. Tablecloths drying in the sun. Memories of what my cousin's dowry of linens looked like. All the details. All the work. All the warmth. All the good wishes. Weddings. Wine. Love. Goodness.

And speaking of Good Folks, I want to share this 5th collection of mine with 5 of you in the best way possible! How about a stack? Leave me a comment and share what you think of when you think of "good". Whether that means pizza or salary bonuses. Up to you. I can't help, of course, but think of YOU when I think of GOOD. Because you are. Thank you for your continued interest and encouragement, and also your patience!

I'll leave the post open for comments until the fabrics get here, which could be in a week or two. If blogger starts blipping out, and not taking your comments, just send them to comments@annamariahorner.com and I'll be sure to get them in the drawing. I do have one more extra special surprise for this collection which I will share soon!

Good is fresh bread, a new quilt just out of the dryer, a good cuddle with my husband and all the pets, a marathon of a really good TV show, when a stranger slows down to let you merge on the freeway, oh how the list is long... Good is spending life focusing on all those positive things and not the negative. And of course good is this new beautiful fabric line!!! (alissahaight at hotmail dot com 'cause blogger can be weird)

God. Who created all color and has the largest palette of all. And Who gives beyond measure. And allows us innumerable joys in this life and hope for the next, wherein can you even begin to imagine the color possibilities? God is good.

What's good is not necessarily what's best-liked, or most fun, or what we'd wish to have happen. Discipline is good, sad times can be good, a broken arm can be good in comparison to what could have been. I'm learning this very very slowly.

It's such a selfish good, but the good when your sleepy little bundle of a child crawls into your arms late at night because she can't sleep and just wants to be close. She should so be in bed, asleep - but I still love when that happens. It is so good.

Just this morning I told myself I'm not buying any more fabric until I use up what I already have stockpiled. But these fantastic fabrics have completely weakened my resolve! (So if I were to win some, I could still technically honor my fabric budget!)

Good is a sweet smelling baby fresh from the womb, good is breastfeeding at 2 in the morning, just me and my babe. Good is the sweetest 2 year old ever and her always insistent, "Mommy, whats that?!!!!"

Oh they are so beautiful! Good... is a date with my sweet hubby of nearly 22 years. Dinner out, walking around the bookstore, stopping for hot chocolate & then coming home to our 3 wonderful teenagers, that's good!

Gorgeous collection! <3 I'm usually a lurker, I've only been following you in the past year, but I have read your entire blog! Which I find amazing, really!

Anyway, what I think of good is new life. I'm a first time mom at 25, and it's really exciting, every time my baby moves, well, I'm sure you know how that joy and excitement just overcomes you! This will be the first grandchild on both sides of the family, and the first great-grandchild for both my sets of grandparents, which I am so blessed to still have! I could go on about the good-ness in my life! But I think that says enough <3

Good is spending time with my wonderful husband, just the two of us. Good is also natural childbirth, and the four lovely children that came from such occasions! :-)Love these new fabrics... they are beautiful.

Good is a new baby set to arrive any day now. And a couple glorious weeks of 70* weather in the middle of January. And good is this new line--reminds me of the linens at my Nonna's house, still gracing her beds and tables to this day.

Beautiful fabrics!! Good is a clean house, fresh flowers and a candle burning with quiet all around (though with 3 children, that really doesn't happen, so in reality - good is happy kids and a loud chaotic house (with the flowers and candle)).

This week my good was the feverish daughter on my lap, the sewing son next to me and the dog on my feet. Add a good book and the ketle on for tea and it can't get better then good. Safe warm content together that is good..

Good is the 5 minutes at the end of naptime when the house is still clean. The smell of your parents home. The smell of your husbands cologne, and freshly bathed babies! The excitement of beginning a new sewing/craft project!

A cold night snuggled up by the fire with my husband, a quilt project and a nice glass of wine. A good nap on a Saturday afternoon. My yard in full bloom in the Spring. A clean and organized home from head to toe (oh dear, do I sound a bit anal??) The love of my Lord, my husband, my family and friends!

Good- the way I want to live my life. That I know that if tomorrow I dont take another breath that I will have no regret about the way I treated people and my enviroment, and my loved ones and those who hardly knew me will say... she was good.

I just have to say that I adore all your fabric prints. They are absolutely gorgeous.Good is how you feel when, when you make something beautiful and someone else appreciates it's beauty as much as you do.

Good is sweet and salty.Good is warm and fresh.Good is happiness, but also sometimes a little sadness.Good is health and love and money (in that order?)Good should be friends, family and work... although that's not always true.Good is time... free time to read, sew, and browse the web.

Good is: All the house windows open, warm wind blowing the sheers, walking around the house barefoot, sounds of the kids playing on the trampoline, green garden and colorful linens hanging on the clothes line. Summer colors everywhere, family and friends keeping us company to the late hours with lots of laughter.

To me good is preparing supper in my warm kitchen, my sweet girl (who will be off to college soon) doing her homework at the table, my precious boy playing with toys all over the kitchen floor and the sound of the best husband in the world coming in the door. It's my life and it's very good! p.s. I'm in love with your new line! Congratulations! Libby, Newnan GA

Good is being complete in-and-of yourself. Others can and do enrich you tremendously, but if you aren't fulfilled at your core, if you are looking for others too fill in your emptiness, you can never be good. Wholeness is the most basic component of happiness.

good is the first time my daughter kissed me! and those fabrics are wonderful, really. and i'd promised myself i was NOT buying any more as my stash is so so big. but those remind me so much of all the old european linens my mother in law uses on her beds! they will be so cute for clothing! can't wait to see them!

Oh, I had a very "good" moment the other day. My 19 year old son and I were kayaking. We stopped for a snack break (because I whined a whole lot until we did). We were sitting in our kayaks bumping up against the marsh grass in the middle of nowhere, just talking and sharing gingersnaps. And I agree with Susan, God is good!

I really love the fabrics and am excited to see the whole collection now! I really love reading the story behind your inspiration, which really gave me a good visual of what you may have been picturing.

"Good" to me means happiness. Plain and simple but loaded and wonderful!

Good: early Saturday mornings on the porch - a cup of coffee, toast with wildflower honey, a clementine orange and a fuzzy terrier at your feet. Oh, and a husband by your side (who do you think made the coffee?). Good is counting your blessings.

Good to me is salt on watermelon. Or peanut butter on apples. That unexpected pleasure of something so random. Good to me is also sitting out in my old field as a child singing at the top of my lungs like The Sound of Music. That is good. Youthful goodness. Goodness where you don't care who's listening because you're singing for the WORLD and you don't care what they think of it. Because you're young. And brave. And totally proud.

whenever I hear the word "good" I think of my kids behavior, lol... which is usually NOT "good". like all kids, my kids can get rather wound up at times, especially now with winter in full swing and cabin fever setting in. oh how I wish they would be "good".

Good is comfort and knowledge of doing well by yourself and others.And good things are those that give you warm fuzzies, whether it be an act, some yummy chocolate dipped raspberries, or beauty.Wait, I change my answer. Good is beauty.

Hmmm. Good? A hug from the kids. Long, sweet, baby lashes closed in sleep. The sparkle in their eyes when he thinks he's getting away with something. A good book. A nap. Toasting my toes in front of the fire. Laying in the hammock on a breezy, hot, summer day. A glimpse of sunshine on a gray Michigan winter day. Love.

Love the collection - can't wait to start stitching. The "good-est" thing so far today was my little one wanting to go for a "boggan" ride in the snow, and my littler one giving wide open-mouthed kisses to mommy.

Oh lord I'm in love with the Byzantine group. It's everything I love about fabric, the brilliant florals that are elegant and detailed without being too busy. A small gathering and fortune are some of the most beautiful fabric I've seen in a while.

Good is hitting the skatepark at dawn before anyone else has arrived, with a tumbler of coffee and a busy mind ready to be calmed. Good is the serene calm of that skatepark at sunrise, the mediation of carving the bowls and ramps in silence with only your wheels and a few birds for a soundtrack. Good is when your friends wander in (with their tumblers of coffee and their busy minds) and you catch up for a moment or two before returning to your hectic day.

Good--- is the sweet little hugs and smiles you get from little ones when you are a teacher...and it doesn't hurt when after a long and exhausting day you come home to a boyfriend who has already ordered take out for dinner and washed your clothes. Yes, I have been lucky enough to experience this type of "good" a few times. :) The new collection is amazing! I cannot wait to get my hands on it!

Good is snuggled on the couch, covered in various little feet and legs, watching a family favorite movie (the princess bride) and laughing because everyone's reciting the lines with the characters. And maybe some good tickling during the slow parts.

I love the collection and see three possible candidates for recovering those dining chairs. I can't wait til it's available.

Good just now means: cozy at home with huge puff-flakes of snow falling outside, books read together snuggled on the couch, hot-cocoa for the children after a play in the snow, and light dancing off my walls from the snow reflection.

Good things in my world come in soft furry ears, cold wet noses, heads that turn from side to side with inquisitiveness, the art of giving a belly rub, gifts of licks, sneaking a furry companion in bed next to you when the husband's away, howling to the sound of a harmonica, sitting still for hours in your roll as someone else's pillow, starting the day with the feel of a breath rather than the sound of an alarm, and walking every single day no matter what the weather.

These are beautiful. I am looking for some fabrics to make a tiffen bag like this one http://allbuttonedup.typepad.com/all_buttoned_up/2008/12/a-man-thing-to-make-.htmlfor my husband. I think he would like a lot of your fabrics.kathyz65@hotmail.com

Good is waking up to the sound of birds (or little children more often than not...).Good is when you find there is one last chocolate in the box before you put it away.Good is when you know the next song is one of your favorites.And good is in all the details...Have a wonderful day and congratulations on your new prints.Marine (from France)

Good is a long walk with the kids in Autumn, when the leaves are crunchy. Good is when all of us are cuddled up in front of the fire reading a book, and everyone is quiet. (Ok, the quiet is part is a dream, not reality, since I have 7 children. Quiet would be good, though!)I love the new fabric line! My favorite is small gathering in citrus!

Good is seeing someone you love asleep under a quilt you have made! The new collection is truly GOOD... it makes my heart dance to look at it. Thank you... now I wonder if I will be able to get it here in New Zealand :)

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